The 23rd Annual Orange & Black Ball presented by Kaiser Permanente was held on Friday, October 14th in the Janssen-Lagorio Gymnasium as a signature event of University of the Pacific's Homecoming & Family Weekend. The event brought together 500+ donors, alumni, and fans of Pacific athletics to support the 300+ Tiger student-athletes.
Janssen-Lagorio Gymnasium was lit up with over 6,000 lights courtesy of Larcom's Lighting that truly transformed the space and made for a magical evening.
Half of the room featured a beautiful round bar and lounge furniture from Sacramento Event Co., along with over 100 auction items, two grazing tables, a photo area, and a dance floor for guests to enjoy.
The other half of the room included 65 guest tables that were brought to life with beautiful centerpieces from Embellish Floral Design and two incredible 16' LED screens from G-Force Productions.
Guests entered through the lively Pacific student-athlete welcome tunnel that featured music from a custom Pacific Flare8 Bumpboxx courtesy of event gold sponsor, Bumpboxx, that guests had the opportunity to bid on during the silent auction.
The student-athlete welcome tunnel is a tradition of the Orange & Black Ball that guests love as they get to see who they will be supporting that evening!
The evening began with a cocktail hour giving guests the opportunity to browse silent auction items, mingle with others, visit wine and beer tasting stations, and enjoy hors d'oeuvres served by Pacific student-athletes.
We partnered with Qtego Auction Services giving guests the ability to bid for items via their cell phones and tablets. Guests unable to attend were also able to bid remotely.
Beer and wine tasting stations were available to our guests thanks to our generous partners: Five Window Brewing Company, Harney Lane Winery & Vineyards, High Water Brewing Lodi, Oak Ridge Winery, and Weibel Family Winery. The Pacific Cross Country team also hosted a Wine Pull station where guests had the opportunity to win bottles of wine.
This year's master of ceremonies was Pacific Men's Basketball Play-by-Play Radio Broadcaster, Zack Bayrouty. He began the program by thanking this year's title sponsor, Kaiser Permanente.
Kaiser is committed to helping shape the future of health care. They are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of their members and the communities they serve. They are in favor of anything that lets you have fun and be healthy and were happy to support the PAF's Orange & Black Ball!
Bayrouty continued with the program by thanking all of our event sponsors who helped us to reach a record breaking $100,000 in total sponsorships!
Bayrouty then took time to recognize some special guests that were in attendance, including:
- University President & First Lady, Christopher and Jean Callahan
- Provost & Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs, Maria Pallavicini
- Board of Regent Members; Marty Ardron, Connie Callahan, Mary-Elizabeth Eberhardt, Leticia Robles, Don Shalvey, Janet Spears, and Eve Zimmerman
- Former Board of Regent Member, Gary Mitchell
- Pacific's Director of Athletics, Janet Lucas
- President's Cabinet & University Leadership Team; Scott Biedermann, Maria Blandizzi, Mary Lomax Ghirarduzzi, and James Walsh
- Pacific Athletic Foundation Board Members; Jim Dyke, JJ Godi, Dean Goold, Julius Hastings, Henry Hirata, Duane Isetti, Dean Janssen, Leland Noma, Larry Philipp, Gill Realon, Chris Rishwain, and Candace Williams
- 2022-23 Pacific Athletics Head Coaches; John Cook (Men's Golf), Bradley Davis (Women's Basketball), Greg Gibbons (Volleyball), Robin Goodman (Men's Tennis), James Graham (Men's and Women's Water Polo), Katelyne Herrington (Men's and Women's Swimming), Josh Jones (Cross Country and Track & Field), Brian Kolze (Softball), Leonard Perry (Men's Basketball), Adam Reeves (Men's Soccer), Chris Rodriguez (Baseball), Danesha Adams and JJ Wozniak (Women's Soccer), and Mike Erwin (Women's Tennis).
Lastly, Bayrouty recognized and honored 40+ members of Pacific Volleyball's nine Final Four teams who were back on campus for a Final Four Reunion weekend!
President Christopher Callahan then took the stage to provide his remarks and express his excitement and support of Pacific Athletics.
The next speaker was University of the Pacific Director of Athletics, Janet Lucas. She gave her welcoming remarks, reflected on the culture of Pacific Athletics and its' exciting future. She then took a moment to recognize the evening's title sponsor, Kaiser Permanente.
Kaiser's Senior Vice President of Hospital and Health Plan Operations, Northern California Region, Mary Ardron, was invited to the stage to speak on their partnership and support of Pacific Athletics. He then introduced the Kaiser Permanente "Every day is a win" commercial featuring Klay Thompson.
University of the Pacific alumna, motivational speaker, and professional leadership coach, Amanda King, was then welcomed to the stage to introduce the evening's Fund-a-Need appeal. This year, the PAF chose to raise funds for a critical resource in college athletics - Nutrition.
A day-in-the-life video featuring Men's Water Polo student-athlete, Bogdan Djerkovic, was then played so guests could see the importance and challenges that come with fitting proper nutrition into a busy day of class, practice, weight training, and studying.
Following the video, Amanda asked for the crowds help in raising a goal of $15,000 that would go towards nutritional support for our student-athletes. Guests were able to give directly through their phones by texting in their donations and their name would appear on the video boards.
Thanks to the generosity of Watts Equipment Co., once $5,000 was raised, Watts matched it with another $5,000!
With the support of the attendees, the $15,000 goal was met within minutes, which unlocked 300 donated meals for Pacific student-athletes courtesy of Panera Bread and R Healthy Meals!
It didn't stop there! After reaching $15,000, Amanda King announced a $5,000 match of her own, which was accepted by Nelson Bahler for an additional $10,000! This along with more donations from the crowd brought the total to $29,542 raised for Nutritional Support! This marks a fund-a-need record for Pacific Athletics since beginning 7 years ago! A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this possible!
Following a great dinner from All Seasons Catering, it was time for the live auction! Guests were given light up wands to use for bidding and Zack Bayrouty served as the auctioneer for the evening.
The first live auction item was a Pacific Golf Experience donated by Pacific Golf. The winner of this item was Rick Paulsen!
The second item was a Private Dinner Party with Chef Michael Midgley courtesy of Michael Midgley! The winner of this experience was David Sandstrom!
Next up was an Oceanfront Condo in Puerto Vallarta donated by Leticia Robles! This trip was won by Michael McKee!
The live auction concluded with a once-in-a-lifetime trip to one of the world's most exclusive clubs, Skibo Castle! This trip was donated by Eve Zimmerman and was won by Amanda King!
The program concluded with the Grand Prize Raffle drawing! Pacific Volleyball alum, Heather Cox, was invited up to assist with the drawing.
WINNER: DUANE ISETTI
WINNER: CANDACE WILLIAMS
WINNER: CHARIS CARDENO
WINNER: PARKER KLEIN
WINNER: MICHAEL SMITH
Following the Grand Prize Raffle, guests were invited to help themselves to the dessert buffet featuring delicious treats from Nothing Bundt Cakes, Panera Bread, and Toot Sweets.
Finally it was time to DANCE and celebrate an amazing event! Music was provided by Justin Quijano of Plural Music to close out the night!
The Pacific Athletic Foundation would like to thank everyone who attended and/or participated in the 23rd annual Orange & Black Ball! With your support, we were able to raise over $135,000 for Pacific Athletics!
Credits:
Tim Thymes - Momentsinthymes & Marc Afshar - Stevie Visuals